Description of Problem:
The genericups driver app is for "Stupid" UPSs that use "simple
signalling". They don't transmit data, they just raise/lower control
signals.
Opening the file (e.g., ttyS1) in blocking mode will block (and fail with
a timeout) because the right signals aren't present.
The attached patch is against 0.45.0 but should work for 0.44.x as well.